Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami ... - IBNLive - Games
Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami ... - IBNLive - Games
Swami Vivekananda - A Biography by Swami ... - IBNLive - Games
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All these problems were solved <strong>by</strong> the generosity of Surendranath Mitra, the beloved<br />
householder disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. He came forward to pay the expenses of new<br />
quarters for the Master's homeless disciples. A house was rented at Baranagore,<br />
midway between Calcutta and Dakshineswar. Dreary and dilapidated, it was a building<br />
that had the reputation of being haunted <strong>by</strong> evil spirits. The young disciples were<br />
happy to take refuge in it from the turmoil of Calcutta. This Baranagore Math, as the<br />
new monastery was called, became the first headquarters of the monks of the<br />
Ramakrishna Order. Its centre was the shrine room, where the copper vessel containing<br />
the sacred ashes of the Master was daily worshipped as his visible presence.<br />
Narendranath devoted himself heart and soul to the training of the young brother<br />
disciples. He spent the day-time at home, supervising a lawsuit that was pending in the<br />
court and looking after certain other family affairs; but during the evenings and nights<br />
he was always with his brothers at the monastery, exhorting them to practise spiritual<br />
disciplines. His presence was a source of unfailing delight and inspiration to all.<br />
The future career of the youths began to take shape during these early days at<br />
Baranagore. The following incident hastened the process. At the invitation of the<br />
mother of Baburam, one of the disciples, they all went to the village of Antpur to spend<br />
a few days away from the austerities of Baranagore. Here they realized, more intensely<br />
than ever before, a common goal of life, a sense of brotherhood and unity integrating<br />
their minds and hearts. Their consecrated souls were like pearls in a necklace held<br />
together <strong>by</strong> the thread of Ramakrishna's teachings. They saw in one another a reservoir<br />
of spiritual power, and the vision intensified their mutual love and respect. Narendra,<br />
describing to them the glories of the monastic life, asked them to give up the glamour<br />
of academic studies and the physical world, and all felt in their hearts the ground swell<br />
of the spirit of renunciation. This reached its height one night when they were sitting<br />
for meditation around a fire, in the fashion of Hindu monks. The stars sparkled<br />
overhead and the stillness was unbroken except for the crackling of the firewood.<br />
Suddenly Naren opened his eyes and began, with an apostolic fervour, to narrate to the<br />
brother disciples the life of Christ. He exhorted them to live like Christ, who had had<br />
no place 'to lay his head.' Inflamed <strong>by</strong> a new passion, the youths, making God and the<br />
sacred fire their witness, vowed to become monks.<br />
When they had returned to their rooms in a happy mood, someone found out that it was<br />
Christmas Eve, and all felt doubly blest. It is no wonder that the monks of the<br />
Ramakrishna Order have always cherished a high veneration for Jesus of Nazareth.<br />
The young disciples, after their return to Baranagore, finally renounced home and<br />
became permanent inmates of the monastery. And what a life of austerity they lived<br />
there! They forgot their food when absorbed in meditation, worship, study, or<br />
devotional music. At such times Sashi, who had constituted himself their caretaker,<br />
literally dragged them to the dining-room. The privations they suffered during this<br />
period form a wonderful saga of spiritual discipline. Often there would be no food at<br />
all, and on such occasions they spent day and night in prayer and meditation.<br />
Sometimes there would be only rice, with no salt for flavouring; but nobody cared.<br />
They lived for months on boiled rice, salt, and bitter herbs. Not even demons could